Malia and blocks

Malia was hilarious this afternoon with her blocks.  She was throwing them and making a super funny sound, like "boom".  Of course when I pulled out the camera, she stopped, but you can hear her "googlie googlie", asking me for water.

another crawling video

11 month photo shoot

Since it is impossible to get Malia to sit on the couch and take her pictures, I took some outside of her today.  I love her coloring when she wakes up from a nap.  I'm sure next month I will not even be able to get pictures of her sitting in the backyard, she will be moving all over the place.  

laughing at her Ge Ge

I swear I'm not squirlling anything away in my cheeks!

What was that noise? (I love how she holds her hands)

Ooooh, airplane!

luscious lips

why can't I get this darn ball in the basket?

so ladylike with her legs crossed!

She can crawl

A couple weeks ago, Malia did crawl, but didn't really go any distance.  This morning, I got it on video...her first real crawl across the floor.  She decided today would be the day, on her 11 month birthday!  We are so proud of her.

A little later, Scott got her to crawl toward her sippy cup.  It was the cutest thing because before she reached it, we were all clapping for her and she had to stop crawling, start clapping too, and then resume crawling to the cup.  I am so bummed I didn't get that on video because it was too cute!

fire trike

Kekoa is so inventive.  While he was playing in the backyard this afternoon, he made up that he had a fire trike.  He showed me which "buttons" made it go fast and slow and where the water came out from.  It was so cute.  He would make a siren sound and tell me, "I didn't even get to rest" as he crawled off the chair and get on his fire trike to ride to the fire.  He would put out one or two fires and then ride back to the chair, get some water, and some much needed rest, but before he could rest, there would be another fire!

Malia thought it was so fun to watch her Ge Ge.

I love how you can hear Kekoa talking all about his fire trike in the background.

Emma Prush Farm

What a fabulous day at Emma Prush Farm.  We met the Fremont crew there and my dear friend Riquesha came too, with her two kiddos, Ori and Malcolm.  We haven't seen each other in ages and the babies have gotten huge since the last time they were together.  Malcolm was so excited to see Malia, he did this little quiver and shake thing.  We are pretty sure that he thought Malia was a doll, a real live doll, and wanted to poke her and love her so badly...like he does to the doll at home.  Malia was being little miss drama queen and would cry when she felt that he had invaded her territory a little too much.

What made it so fabulous today was that it was completely relaxing.  We chose a wonderful spot in the shade, to have our picnic lunch, where we could see the kids playing.  Us adults didn't do anything but chat and enjoy each other's company...fabulous!  A really great way to spend the morning.

What are you eating Kaiwei?

Kekoa is saying "cuz, cuz, cuz" and then explaining something...notice his hands and facial expression.

agressive rooster in the background

Malia is so excited about the chickens.

Malcolm and Malia meet again!

I need that hat!

I want another turn with it!

11 months

Dear Malia girl,

You are almost one.  I can't believe it.  I enjoy each and every day with you my little girl.  You have become quite the mama's girl now and if you see me walk by, you fuss for me to come pick you up.

You have become quite efficient with moving, I mean really moving.  You are never in the same spot that I have put you down in.  You are very efficient scooting on your hands and knees but the most exciting thing happened today...you started crawling!!  Yay!  You just decided this morning that you were going for it.

You are a champ when it comes to sleep (knock on wood) and the easiest baby to put down to sleep (knock on wood again).  As long as you have your lovey and a binky, you are golden and fall right asleep.  Sometimes you fuss because you want some milk before your nap.  You are still taking 2 naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, usually for 1-2 hours each.  This past month, there was one day when you decided that you didn't want to nap.  I think you were too excited to be rolling around in your crib because you also started rolling from your back to your tummy this past month like you have been doing it all your life!

At night, you sleep until morning, but for some reason morning keeps getting a little earlier and earlier for you.  I had to re sleep train you for a few days because you were getting up at 4:00.  You are back to getting up at 5:30 or later.  If I nurse you, you will fall back asleep which is nice.

Here are some other fun things you have been up to this past month:
-give love pats, which is the cutest thing ever

-Your favorite person is still your Ge Ge.  He makes you laugh and is so good with you (most of the time).  He has been showing you how to play with your toys and looks out for you, making sure you aren't playing with things you shouldn't be.  He also loves to go in your crib and hang out with you, you just love this.

-you like to horde your toys now.  You try to get as many as you can into your hands, it is pretty funny.

-you love to play with the drawers and stuff in the drawers, but watch out for you little fingers.

-you are rolling all over in your crib. It is still strange to me to find you in a completely different spot in the crib.

-you are such a screamer, OMG, you scream so loud.  I hope this passes quickly.

-you are drinking cow's milk.  I still pump twice a day, but do not have a ton of milk anymore so we supplement with cow milk, which you really like.

-you are still a fantastic eater.  You eat 3 solid meals a day and sometimes have 2-3eggs for breakfast!  It is simply amazing.

-You do "twinkle twinkle".  When you hear the song, your whole face lights up as you twinkle with your hands.

-You are taking a bath in the big tub, no more baby tub for you.  You slide all over the tub to get the toys you want and when it is time to get out of the tub, you throw the worst tantrum ever!!

-You are getting more snuggly.  You usually want to squirm away and move somewhere, but have been snuggling a little bit more, which we all love.

-You are just hilarious and love life so much.  Everything is so exciting for you, which is probably why you are screaming so much.

We love you so much baby girl!  I just love all your babyness and am soaking it all in as I know it is passing right before my eyes.

love,
your mama

A+ dinner

I have been in a serious cooking rut, I mean serious.  Cooking has just seemed so labor intensive for what it is worth....the time to actually prep, then to cook, then the cleaning, all for hearing a certain little someone say, " I don't like it".

Tonight was a dinner success, an A+ dinner for all of us.  I made a cheesy, spinach, orzo bake from the cookbook, "The 6:00 scramble".  It was a lot of cheese with red pasta sauce and frozen spinach mixed with ricotta and eggs.  When I pulled it out of the oven, Kekoa said, "yummy"...that is always a good sign.  He was so hungry he could barely wait for it to cool down before devouring it.  He loved it, gave it a big thumbs up.  I love that if it is green, Kekoa thinks it is pesto and will eat it all up.  Malia devoured it too.  I can't tell you how rewarding it felt to be sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful spring weather, while all of were eating the same meal.  Yay!

The best part...easy clean up and even easier prep.  I was able to get the whole dish together in about 20 minutes..easy peasy.

Maybe this will kick me out of my cooking rut...just maybe!

ooooh, airplane.

Kekoa gives it a thumbs up!

more airplanes.

What is Malia saying?

At 11 months, Malia is saying:

mama
baba
hi
bye
ba (ball)
ba (sound a sheep makes)
wow

and a lot of other gibberish noises...our favorite is "googlie googlie", which usually means she wants more of something.

Malia in the morning

Malia loves her sippy cup.

A little too much water, too fast!

Saturday morning on the train

Kekoa cuter in this one.

Malia cuter in this one.

Family of 4.

This is how Malia likes to ride the train.  Then she can lean way over the edge and look around.